Czas, przestrzeń, dramatis personae w Próchnie Wacława Berenta. O nowatorstwie powieści
Abstract
The specific treatment of time, space, and of characters in W. Berent's Próchno
permits to consider the novel as a landmark in the history of p ostm o d e rn is ts novel.
Time as the main element of the composition of the novel is the factor shaping
the reader's viewpoint — through an extremely skillful employment of the forms
creating an illusion of the present. The space where the events take place is confined to three symbolic spheres:
the street, the café, and the flat. The stre e t is regarded as alien to the characters in
the novel — as opposed to the café or the flat — isolated places unspoiled by the
crowd. The final discussion — which leads the characters to self-annihilation —
takes place in the isolated space of an apartment.
Not all the characters in the novel a re afflicted with the sense of futility
resulting from the „inability to create". The Nietzschean philosophy, as formulated
by Turkuł — the playwright seems to be a source of energy enabling to overcome
one's uselessness and the atmosphere of inertia. In his novel Berent gave each
character a chance to speak, uniting all the utterances in one great polyphonic
chorus.
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